A cheer went up through the crowd as Frederica walked onto the arena floor. Raising her hand, she waved to them and smiled. She came to a stop near Grandmaster Yunlo and stared at the far tunnel, waiting.
Nessa exhaled slowly and shook her arms out before coming out. There were cheers, but not as many, and some boos were mingled in the noise. Nessa kept a smile on her face and waved to the crowd. The late afternoon sun came from her left, casting sharp shadows on the ground.
“I hope for a good fight,” Frederica said when Nessa got closer. “I wonder what tricks you have planned for me?”
Nessa bowed her head. “I hope for a good fight, too. I don’t know if my plans will do me any good, but I will hope.”
“If you two are done?” Yunlo asked. He stared at each in turn before nodding. “Good. The rules remain the same— turn to the boxes and bow.”
Nessa exhaled slowly and settled into a defensive position, but she wasn’t planning on letting Frederica get a hold of her. Okay, we’ll start with what she’ll expect and hope to lull her a bit…
“Fight!” Yunlo called out.
Frederica’s legs burned with blue flame as she streaked across the arena toward Nessa. A sharp gust of wind came up and Frederica had to turn her head, closing her eyes to avoid being blinded. The wind stayed up a little longer than she expected, but as soon as it stopped, she opened her eyes and slowed, as Nessa wasn’t there.
Nessa kicked with everything she had— not for Frederica’s knee, which was covered in flame, instead aiming for her tailbone— but Frederica had started to turn the instant she realized Nessa wasn’t in front of her. The kick caught her in the hip, and Frederica staggered a step away. When her foot came down, Nessa began to back up.
“You failed to blind me,” Frederica said, lunging forward to close the distance.
Nessa went with her second plan and shoved her hand out at her opponent. Frederica snorted, as she was still too far away from Nessa to hit her. The snort was cut off abruptly when a gust of wind slammed into her face. Blinking away tears, she stopped moving and shook her head. Nessa grimaced and continued to back away.
Yunlo was impressed with Nessa— not many wind magi considered condensing wind down into a ball that could impact like a fist, but against a physical magi, it wasn’t as useful as it would have been against others.
“Not enough,” Frederica said, giving Nessa a nod of respect.
Nessa stopped backpedaling and sighed. “I did what I could.”
Frederica didn’t start forward, instead shaking her head. “No, you have another trick.”
Nessa bowed her head. “Perhaps…”
“I didn’t want to use too much aether at once… I dislike harming others more than I have to. Regardless, I am going to win.”
“I will make you,” Nessa said confidently, extending her hand to beckon Frederica.
Lips pursed, Frederica’s aether burned brighter on her legs and she blitzed forward. Nessa inhaled sharply as the other woman came at her faster than she’d expected, but she focused and played her last card.
As Frederica closed in in a rush, she kept waiting for a gust of wind and sand. She frowned when she got in range and it never came, but she thought it was possible Nessa had used too much aether already. She wasn’t prepared when Nessa lunged for her just as she planted her leg to kick.
Nessa triggered her barrier and slammed into Frederica, using the barrier to knock the other novice to the ground. As they went down, Nessa pressed her right hand to Frederica’s face, ready to use the rest of her barrier to stay on top. With a force of will, Nessa pulled aether from her earrings and core and pushed wind out her hand.
Frederica was shocked when a wall hit her, but she figured it was Nessa’s last trick. She didn’t understand why Nessa had covered her mouth and nose with her hand until a gust of wind pushed into her lungs. Eyes widening, she pulled her aether to her hands and tried to grab Nessa.
Nessa made sure to latch onto Frederica’s kimono with her left hand, trying to stay in place, and triggered her barrier to stop the aether-covered hands from grabbing her.
Frederica began to panic— her lungs felt like overfilled bladders and were burning with pain. The aether on her hands went out, and she scrabbled at the barrier for what felt like minutes. As soon as it vanished, she grasped Nessa’s wrist, trying to rip her hand away.
Nessa grew worried. She thought Frederica would give up when she couldn’t breathe, but she hadn’t. She dug into Nessa’s arm with her nails as she tried to pull her hand away from her face. “Just tap! Tap and I’ll stop it!” she said through gritted teeth as she felt blood drip down her arm.
The pain in Frederica’s chest was climbing and she couldn’t exhale. Nessa’s words reached her brain and she slapped the ground over and over.
“Break!” Yunlo called. “Healers!”
Nessa let go of her aether and slumped to the ground as Frederica exhaled, sobbing. Klim reached Frederica first and checked her. Mindie was to Nessa a second later and healed the wounds on her arm.
“She’s fine now,” Mindie said, going over to help Klim.
“Nearly ruptured her lung,” Klim said. “We need to take her to the healer’s hall to let them check her more thoroughly.”
Yunlo announced the winner as Klim motioned for the stretcher to be brought out. Lowering the disk, he turned to Nessa. “You forced air into her?”
“It was my last resort,” Nessa said. “She couldn’t breathe with it pushing into her.”
Yunlo’s lips thinned. “How did you have enough aether for that?”
Nessa got to her feet slowly as the men with the stretcher arrived. She fished out her medallion, showing him the seven glowing rings. “I also had aether storage earrings. They’re empty now.”
“Take her to the healers and tell them that her lungs need to be carefully checked,” Klim told the men.
“Frederica, I’m sorry for doing that,” Nessa said.
“No…” Frederica wheezed. “We fight… to win.”
The men carted her away and Nessa bowed to her before bowing to Yunlo, then the academy boxes. She looked up to where her two friends were sitting and bowed to them. Walking away, she noticed Mindie was walking with her.
“That was dangerous…” Mindie said softly. “You could have ruptured her lung if you had done more.”
Nessa’s face flashed with guilt. “We do what we have to do to win. I’d hoped she’d quit before it got that far.”
Mindie patted her shoulder as they neared the tunnel. “That’s fine. I can see you didn’t want to hurt her.”
Nessa looked up to see her older friends smiling down at her. She bowed her head, not feeling like she deserved their smiles. She knew she could have seriously injured or killed Frederica with what she did. “Some magi I am if I balk at hurting my opponent…”
“You’re better than I was. I refused to fight,” Mindie said. “If you had pushed all at once instead of the way you did, you would have crippled or killed her in an instant. Instead, you tried to get her to submit. While others might not understand, I do.”
Nessa stopped walking halfway down the tunnel and glanced at Mindie. “Thank you.”
“A healer helps as they can, and not every wound is physical,” Mindie said softly. “You did nothing wrong. You used what you had to win without killing your opponent. The guilt will pass, but if it bothers you that much, go see her. From what I’ve seen of her, she will not hold the fight against you.”
Nessa bowed her head. “Thank you. I will after my friends fight. I need to be here for them as they were for me.”
“Of course.”
~*~*~
Getting back to the box where her friends were, she exhaled before entering. “I won.”
“Yes,” Daciana grinned, “which means I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Victoria could see the lines around Nessa’s eyes. “Did you hurt her that badly?”
Nessa winced. “Maybe. I’m going to see her after your fight.”
“We’ll come with you if we can. We’re both going to fight to win, after all,” Victoria said.
Nessa nodded and looked up. “Yes, but no maiming or killing.”
“Never,” Daciana said. “You used all your barrier?”
“And my earrings,” Nessa added. “Don’t you two need to head down?”
“Yes, but we wanted to see you first,” Victoria said, giving her friend a hug. “I’ll see you after I beat this blockhead.”
“We’ll see you after I show her who’s the best of us,” Daciana said with a smirk.
“But you both just saw that,” Nessa said.
Victoria laughed, and Daciana blinked for a moment before joining in. Nessa felt her guilt fade and she hugged her friends. Pain and suffering will happen, but as long as these two are with me, I’ll be fine.
~*~*~
Victoria exited the tunnel and waved at the cheering crowd. She watched Daciana as she walked— her friend was being both cheered and booed, and that irked her. She’s a damned good person, you hypocritical bastards. Just because she has different ears and a tail doesn’t mean you should hate her. If not for her and Nessa, who knows what would have happened to me? Greg might not even have talked to me if not for them. Taking a deep breath, she pushed those thoughts aside— she had a fight to focus on.
“I’ll show you that I’m the alpha,” Daciana grinned, though there was an edge to her words.
“And I’ll show you that you’re not,” Victoria said with a grin. “Nessa is watching us.”
Daciana’s edge shifted and she glanced toward the box where Nessa was sitting. “I’m still going to win.”
“If you two are done,” Yunlo said, “the rules remain the same. Only one of you will be in the finals, so fight with everything you have. Now, turn to the boxes and bow.”
Victoria knew she’d have a hard time, as Daciana had gotten more training for combat to start with. Pairing that with her magic to pepper Victoria with dirt balls while she would have trouble forming more than a single rift, the advantage increased for Daciana.
If you want to prove to them that you can stand beside them, you have to weather the storm, Victoria told herself as she took a defensive stance.
“Fight!” Yunlo called.
Daciana didn’t move from her own defensive posture as a hard-packed ball of earth launched itself at Victoria. Her eyes narrowed when the ball suddenly vanished. A heartbeat later, her own projectile hit her in the back of the head and staggered her forward.
“You can’t do that often,” Daciana huffed.
“Probably,” Victoria said with a smile. “More than one at a time is the real problem.”
“Yes…” Daciana agreed as a dozen balls all rose and shot toward Victoria.
Victoria smiled as they impacted the barrier that sprung up a foot away from her. “And that should just about do in your aether.”
Daciana grimaced. “Baited.”
“Yes, but now we can have a fair fight.” Extending her left hand, she beckoned Daciana to her. “Come on. Hand-to-hand.”
Daciana nodded and charged forward, her lips pulled back in what could be a smile or snarl. Victoria felt her heart speed up when she saw her friend coming at her with teeth bared.
The ensuing fight had them both bloodied, bruised, and panting. Victoria gave everything she had, but Daciana had more training, and it showed as the fight wore on. Separating again, they stared at each other.
“You fought well,” Daciana said, spitting some blood to the side.
“You, too,” Victoria admitted, wiping at the blood dripping from her nose.
“But, I win,” Daciana grinned, her bloody teeth giving it a grim cast to it.
“Not until you knock me out.”
“Okay.”
Yunlo watched the two of them, glad they were pushing as they were. Friends could end up going soft on each other, which always irritated him. The crowd had enjoyed the brutal fight, cheering louder and louder as it went on. He knew the end was coming soon. Both of them were breathing hard and had taken damage from each other.
Daciana managed to catch Victoria’s arm and, using it as the pivot, she pulled the other woman in to slam her to the ground. Victoria wheezed when she fell, her breath nearly knocked out of her. Daciana straddled her and pounded her face, forcing Victoria to cover herself with both arms.
Daciana didn’t want to brutalize her friend, but Victoria was refusing to give up. “Just surrender!” Daciana grunted as she continued to hammer at her friend.
Victoria grimaced and, with a heavy heart, she turned her head to free a hand and tap the ground.
“Break! Healers!” Yunlo’s voice cut over the crowd.
Klim and Mindie rushed out to help them.
